The History of the Yakima Valley, Washington, Comprising Yakima, Kittitas and
Benton Counties, The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1919, Volume II, page 38
WILLIAM ALFRED STEWART.
William Alfred Stewart, a progressive agriculturist of Yakima county, has a
highly productive farm on the Cowiche which is largely devoted to the raising of
hay, grain and potatoes, while he also conducts a dairy. For many years his
family has been connected with the development and upbuilding of the west. Mr.
Stewart came to Yakima county at the age of eighteen years and has since resided
here continuously.
Mr. Stewart is a native of Oregon, his birth having occurred in Marion county,
August 29, 1860. His parents were J. T. and Charlotte Loretta (Barter) Stewart.
The father was a native of Carlisle, England, born in 1829, and was only six
months old when he was brought by his parents to Canada. Later the family
removed to New York and in 1885 crossed the plains to California from Iowa, in
which state they had been located for some time, making the trip by ox team, and
there the father engaged in mining. Late in the '50s another removal took them
to Oregon, where J. T. Stewart engaged in farming and stock raising, also
starting the first woolen mill in the state at Jefferson. In 1878 he came to
Yakima county, taking up land on the Ahtanum and later acquiring a homestead on
Nob Hill. To the cultivation of this land he gave his close attention for
twenty-four years, retiring at the end of that period with a gratifying income
to Yakima, where he passed away in October, 1912. In 1854 he had married
Charlotte L. Barter, who crossed the plains with him to California and made the
removal to Oregon. She died in 1864. She had two children by a former marriage
and four by Mr. Stewart. In 1865 Mr. Stewart married Deborah Coke by whom he had
eleven children. She died in September, 1908, being survived by her husband for
four years.
William A. Stewart spent his boyhood days in Oregon, where in the acquirement of
his education he attended the public schools. He was eighteen years of age when
the family removed to the Yakima valley and here he began his independent career
by taking employment at farm work, being thus engaged for several years. For six
years he then was engaged in the candy business in Seattle but in 1889 bought
eighty acres on the Cowiche, which then was covered with sagebrush. He built a
home there but in 1890 sold out and removed to Whatcom county, Washington, where
he successfully cultivated land for about six years. At the end of that period
he located in Woodland, Washington, where for three years he successfully
operated a dairy, but in 1900 he returned to Yakima county and bought fifty
acres of land on the Cowiche but of this he sold thirty acres in 1911. He raises
hay, grain, beets and potatoes and also conducts a successful dairy, thus
deriving gratifying returns from his enterprises. He has always followed
progressive methods and has made many improvements upon the place, also
instituting up-to-date equipment and thus making his farm very valuable. For his
dairy he keeps high grade full blooded Holsteins.
On October 17, 1888, Mr. Stewart was united in marriage to Miss Alice Smith, who
was born in Albion, Edwards county, Illinois, August 4, 1865. Her parents, W. G.
and Caroline (Davis) Smith, were natives of Herefordshire, England, the latter
born April 27, 1825. They were married in England and in 1865, the same year in
which their daughter was born, came to the United States, locating in Illinois.
In 1870 they removed to Wilson county, Kansas, and eleven years later, inl881,
came overland to Washington, going first to Issaquah, whence they made their way
to Seattle and thence to Bellingham, Whatcom county, in the fall of 1882. There
the father homesteaded and for twelve years gave his attention to his land but
in 1194 the family removed to Woodland, Washington, where Mrs. Smith passed
away. Mr. Smith now lives retired in the enjoyment of a comfortable competence,
at the age of eighty-six years. Mr. and Mrs. Stewart have seven children: Grace,
who married Clarence Hobbs, a rancher in the Cowiche district, by whom she has
two sons; Edgar Mayo, also a rancher in that locality, who has a wife and three
children; Chester Earl, a rancher in the same district, who is married and has
one child; Cecile May, the wife of E. G. Hart, who follows ranching in the
Cowiche district; Charles Alfred, who is serving his country in the United
States army; Alvin Leroy, at home; and William Clarence, aged fifteen, who is
also at home.
Mr. and Mrs. Stewart have many friends in Cowiche and vicinity, all of whom
speak of them in the highest terms. Both are valued members of their community,
in the moral and material upbuilding of which they take a laudable interest.
Mrs. Stewart is a member of the Baptist church, to the work of which she is
sincerely devoted. Politically Mr. Stewart is independent, giving his support to
the candidates and measures that he considers of the greatest value to the
majority. Fraternally he is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America, and,
being deeply interested in educational matters, he has served for several years
as clerk of the local school board. exerting his efforts in every way to promote
school facilities and raise the standard of education in his district. A pioneer
agriculturist of the state and a son of one of the early settlers, his career is
closely connected with the upbuilding of this commonwealth and by promoting his
own interests he has contributed toward general prosperity. His memory reaches
back to the days when the Yakima valley was still a wilderness and he has
therefore witnessed all of the wonderful changes that have transformed this
section into one of the richest agricultural districts in the country.
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Submitted to the Washington Bios Project in December 2007 by Jeffrey L. Elmer.
Submitter has no additional information about the subject of this article.